Winter Soldier AU
by LeoN WiNgsteiN
Summary: [spoiler warning] Callaghan dies in the fire, but Tadashi survives. Based off of what happens to the Winter Soldier. It's basically me trying to find out how to make this movie even sadder. More to come.
1. Chapter 1

The team pulled themselves out of the rubble, but Hiro scrambled back over it to the robot, who was stuck in a small crater of debris. Yokai rose on his pillar of microbots in front of the rest of the team, half-threatening them, waiting for their next move. Some of the microbots supported what must have been a part of the portal that they had seen on the screen earlier. GoGo, Honey Lemon, and Fred stood in ready stances, anticipating the imminent fight ahead. Wasabi, less sure, turned to them.

"What's the plan?" shouted Wasabi. He held up his laser plasma blades at the ready.

"Get the mask!" shouted GoGo, as she zoomed past him. She skidded up the broken supports for the portal toward Yokai and tossed a disc at him. He called up the microbots to knock them aside, and shifted downward, to the floor. Honey Lemon leapt down after her, landing on a squishy chemical compound she quickly concocted. She hid behind a pillar as Yokai chased GoGo around the room. An idea popped into her head, and she typed in a quick compound into the purse, and out popped a new ball. She took a deep breath before leaping out from behind the pillar—just in time to be beaned in the head with a disc from GoGo that Yokai dodged at the last moment. The ball slipped out of her hand, and fell to the ground. A slippery substance spread across the floor, and GoGo's momentum wasn't stopping—she slid on the blue splotch, right into Honey Lemon, knocking them both backward to the floor.

Fred took this opportunity to leap into action. "Fire breath!" he announced as he spewed fire from his suit's mouth, spinning as he went, in the direction of Yokai. The villain shot a wave of microbots upward, catching Fred and knocking him into GoGo and Honey Lemon.

Now, Yokai looked to Wasabi, who froze. Then, he realized that he had to do _something_. He lifted his laser plasma blades threateningly. "You wanna dance, huh?" he asked, waving the blades slightly. "You'll be dancing with me!"

Yokai sent streams of microbots at Wasabi, and he cut them up with his laser plasma blades as he did. He sliced, and cut, and continued to hack at the streams of microbots as they were hurled at him, successfully deflecting them as they tried to reach him. "Hey!" he exclaimed when he realized that he had batted them all away. "Yeah! That's right, that's what you're dealing with!" He pumped his fist into the air, and then realized why the streams of microbots had stopped shooting after him: his feet had been cemented to the ground by the microbots. "Oh," he uttered, before being flung to the side by the microbots, slamming into the pile of his teammates.

Yokai looked up from this pile of dispatched opponents to look for the other two, and found them—blasting straight toward him. He put up his hands in defense, not even being able to react with the microbots in his surprise, and was knocked backward, past the place where the portals had been perched, and down onto the metal floor. As he went, a sea of microbots came up to the two heroes, knocking Baymax backward, and causing Hiro to tumble down after Yokai. As the masked madman hit the floor, the mask bounced off and slid away. Hiro tucked and rolled as he landed, and got to his feet, Yokai still getting to his own. Hiro snatched up the mask and held up his hands in fists, ready to do what he could. He might be small, but Yokai didn't have the microbots on his side anymore. He was just a normal guy.

Yokai finally got up, straightened out, and turned to Hiro. Hiro's heart stopped, and his hand lost grip of the mask, letting it bounce to the floor. Behind him, the others, recovered from their pileup, crowded around the railing, gasping as they did. Hiro reached out a hand, but then pulled it back.

"Tadashi?" he asked. And there he was, his brother, who he thought had died in the fire that had taken his microbots and Callaghan—but here he was! The right side of his face was warped with burns, the hair singed off, and the left side of his face looked a little worse for wear, but there he was, his brother, alive.

Tadashi glared at Hiro. "Who the hell is Tadashi?" he growled. A silence filled the space, and no one moved, unsure of how to proceed.

Then, in an instant, Tadashi swooped down, grabbed ahold of the mask, put it back on, and in the same fluid motion, used the microbots to crash through the ceiling of the facility, piece of the portal in tow. Hiro stood there, his mouth slightly open, looking at the spot where Tadashi, his brother, had just been. "You… died…" he murmured, as his team leapt over the railing and joined him down below.

"Hiro!" said Honey Lemon, grabbing ahold of his shoulders. "Hiro! Are you alright?" GoGo was surveying the hole, and Baymax pushed past Honey Lemon.

"Hiro," commented Baymax, "you seem—distressed. Can you rate your pain on a…"

"Baymax, wings," commanded Hiro. The wings popped out of the back of Baymax's suit on command. Hiro ducked under Honey Lemon's arms and climbed aboard his back. "Go," he said, and Baymax activated his rocket boots, propelling them upward.

"Hiro, wait!" shouted Wasabi. But it was too late—he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiro stormed into the garage, tossing his helmet to the side as he did, not caring that it crashed into some other equipment he had set up in that corner and reducing it to a pile on the ground. He sat himself in his spinning chair and whirled around to face his computer. He began to punch in a series of codes.

"Hiro, your neurotransmitter levels are fluxuating in an alarming way. You appear to be distressed." Baymax clumsily worked his way across the garage to his patient.

"Baymax, I'm fine," said Hiro. He pounded in a few more commands before spinning back around and loosing Baymax's helmet from his head. He then overturned it and began poking at its internals.

"What are you doing?" asked Baymax as Hiro connected a wire to the helmet, placed it on the desk, and pounded in some more commands.

"I'm upgrading your enhanced sensor," said Hiro. He unplugged the helmet and shoved it back onto Baymax's head. "You weren't able to pick up Tadashi, so I figure something must have been wrong with the scanner. I double-checked it all, and you should be able to find him now."

"I already saw Tadashi with my scanners," said Baymax, holding up a finger. "My scanners were fully functioning and operational."

Hiro looked up from his computer. "You saw him?" he asked, standing from his chair. "You saw him, and didn't tell me?"

"You asked me to locate the masked man. You seemed to be undergoing some sort of psychological trauma relating to Tadashi's death. According to my psychological health protocols, I was to break that news to you slowly in a nurturing environment, where you could easily share your feelings."

"Tadashi was dead!" exclaimed Hiro. "He was dead, and you knew he wasn't."

"I made a calculation…"

"Baymax, open data port." Hiro reached out his hand, and waited him to push out the small circle in his chest. It didn't come, and Hiro's eyes flitted to Baymax's optical receptors.

"Your hormone and stress levels indicate anger, and I do not think that you should be making major decisions…"

Baymax's sentence was cut off when Hiro tapped the circle, opening his data port. Two cards stuck out of their slots: one, red and labeled with a skull—the one with Baymax's martial arts programming—and the second, green and labeled in an even handwriting—the one that held the meticulously programmed nursing protocols, created by Tadashi. Hiro pulled the green one out and rolled back in his chair to his computer, where he inserted the card and began clicking.

"Hiro, Tadashi programmed me with…"

"Tadashi is gone."

"Tadashi is here," said Baymax.

"No, he's not—that's what people have been saying, ever since he…" Hiro's voice faltered. "…died. He's not here. He's out there, somewhere, with the microbots. And I need you to find him."

"Will you disable my programming?" asked Baymax. Hiro continued to click though the files on the drive on the computer.

"No," said Hiro. "I'm just rerouting it, taking out some of the protocols and safeguards Tadashi… put in there…" His clicking slowed for a moment before picking up again. He was surprised when he felt a light weight on his shoulder. He turned to see that Baymax had removed the arm pieces of armor and had placed his hand on Hiro.

"Please," said Baymax, "do not remove those programs. Tadashi worked hard putting them in."

"Tadashi isn't here anymore. He's some sort of a villain now—and I need to find him."

"Tadashi is here," said Baymax. Hiro glanced at the windows of the garage, wondering if his brother had followed them back to the Lucky Cat. Then, he realized that Baymax was pointing at his own chest with the arm that wasn't preoccupied with "comforting" Hiro.

Hiro stood and removed the chest piece of Baymax's suit, careful of the still-open data access point. He placed the piece of the suit on the floor of the garage. When he stood again, where Baymax would usually display the one-to-ten pain rating scale, was Tadashi's face. It was a picture from before the explosion: his face was whole, and his eyes were bright. Then, the picture started moving. "Hello! My name's Tadashi Hamada," the recording began. "This is my robotics project—trial one." He reached forward, toward the screen, and Hiro realized that it was Baymax himself who had recorded this video—it was from Baymax's point of view. In the video, inflated vinyl arms rose up and whacked against Tadashi until he was able to shut off the robot. Then, the video was cut short.

Another video started immediately afterward. "This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is my robotics project, trial two…" He reached up and started up Baymax.

"Hello! I am Baymax," said the robot. Tadashi's smile widened until Baymax continued: "Hello! I am Baymax. Hello! I am Baymax. Hello! Hello! Hello!" Tadashi shook his head and pressed the button again, both shutting Baymax down and ending the recording.

Another started up. "Tadashi Hamada. This is my robotics project, trial three…"

"This is my robotics project, trial twenty-four..."

"This is my robotics… _sigh_… project, trial eighty-seven…"

"Hello," came Baymax's voice from the recording. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."

Tadashi looked up, and his smile stretched across his face. "You work!" he exclaimed. "I mean, of course—finally…" He composed himself and held his arms out. "Baymax, scan me."

In the recording, a thin light ran over Tadashi's body. "Done," said Baymax. "You seem to be in good health." Tadashi pumped his fist into the air and tried to continue talking through his smile.

"Thank you, Baymax," said Tadashi. "Thank you so much—I am satisfied with my care."

The screen on Baymax's chest froze on Tadashi's smiling face. Hiro stared at it, and glanced back to the computer screen. "Tadashi programmed me for a reason,"' said Baymax.

Hiro looked down at his hands and trembled slightly. He reached up, and hit the backspace key a few times, before ejecting Tadashi's memory chip. He held it in shaking hands and inserted it back into Baymax's data port, pushing it shut as he did. He went to back up, but found that he was held to Baymax's chest by his strong, balloon-like arms. He pulled back, but the surrendered himself to the hug. He shook as he began to cry into the large robot's chest. He wrapped his arms around Baymax, and pulled himself into him. "There, there…" said Baymax softly.

They stayed like this until a knocking at the door of the garage interrupted them. Hiro released himself from the hug, wiping his tears away with his arm as he went. "It's probably Aunt Cass," he said, pushing Baymax's armor under the desk. "Put it away, Baymax," he continued, as he went to the door and opened it—

To reveal his team, standing in their normal, street clothes rather than their super suits. "Hiro!" exclaimed Wasabi. "We were worried about you when…"

"When you left us on the island with no way of getting back," finished GoGo, popping a bubble of gum.

"Don't worry," said Fred, "we got a ride back on the family chopper. We were just worried about you, dude."

"I'm sorry, guys—when I saw him, I just kind of…" Hiro paused. "Freaked out."

"We don't blame you at all," said Honey Lemon. "Hiro, we freaked out, too, and I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you…"

"Thank you, Honey Lemon. Thanks to all of you," said Hiro, Baymax joining him at his side. "But Tadashi is still out there, and I know I _need_ to find him—and you do, too. There are too many unanswered questions. But I'm sure we can find out why Tadashi's like he is, and help him—if we work together." He stood back and let what he had said sink in.

"Well," said Fred, bouncing a bit. "What are we waiting for?" He looked to the others, each of them with the beginnings of a grin on their faces. "Let's go!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey guys," said Fred, flopping into a chair. "I think I know who's behind all of this."

"Who?' asked Wasabi. Hiro turned from his computer to listen, and GoGo and Honey Lemon turned from their in-depth conversation about whether or not a gaseous chemical compound could reduce friction without being poisonous.

"Okay, okay, hear me out here," he said, holding up his hands. "And keep in mind, this is just a theory and stuff, but: think about it. Whoever this is, they've obviously had some sort of insider's scoop on how the microbots work, to get to use them so fast."

"Tadashi was there when I invented them," said Hiro, slumping in his chair.

"Yeah, but he doesn't have the intense knowledge of the tech to mass-produce them to the scale that they have been," said Fred. "And there has to be someone else with him. I mean, if he was doing what he was doing on purpose, why would he have gotten all—burned and stuff while doing it? He would've, like, stolen the plans or whatever before he 'died'. This super villain dramatic thing really isn't Tadashi's style."

"So who's behind all this?" asked GoGo. "Spit it out."

Fred drew in a deep breath, and said: "Professor Callaghan." The incredulous looks he received were not softened by his pseudo-jazz hands.

"What?" asked Wasabi.

"Callaghan's dead," said GoGo. She blew a bubble and popped it.

"We went to his funeral," said Honey Lemon. "We need to accept his death and move on with the grieving process."

"We were at Tadashi's funeral, too," said Fred. "And look how that turned out." He glanced to Hiro, who looked away. "Listen, I know it seems crazy, but he knew more than anyone about magnetic bearing servos, right? I mean, didn't he invent them? He could reverse-engineer the microbots in, like, a second!"

"That doesn't explain why he used Tadashi," said Wasabi.

"Or why he needs to steal something he could have secretly stolen and reverse-engineered safely in his lab at SFIT," said GoGo. "It doesn't add up."

"It's better than nothing," said Hiro, standing from his desk chair. "And until we come up with anything better, I think it's a lead that we should follow. Worst comes to worst, Callaghan's dead, and he died in the fire."

"No," said Wasabi, "worst comes to worst, Callaghan _didn't_ die."

* * *

><p>Tadashi sat in the chair with his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands. He stared at the floor between his feet. He didn't even look up when the door clanged shut behind someone as they entered the cell of a room. His ears, mainly the one that hadn't been deformed by burning, followed the footsteps as they approached.<p>

"Yokai!" exclaimed the person, welcoming himself into the room like it was a good friend's dinner party. Tadashi heard as the man dragged forward a metal folding chair from the side of the room, propped it open, and sat in it. He leaned in. "Why the long face?"

Tadashi turned his head, meeting the dazzlingly white smile. The man was all business—the human embodiment of "dress to impress." He was in charge. That was what Tadashi knew—_all_ he knew about the man—Alistair Krei was _in charge_.

"The boy—at the lab—I knew him." There was something familiar about the boy—his eyes, his short pants—that Tadashi couldn't get out of his mind. There was something _there_—he knew him.

"You may have seen him during training, or in the briefing videos," said Krei, his smile not faltering for a second, even after a brief flick of his eyes to the camera in the corner of the room. "He's a student at SFIT—one of Callaghan's."

"He knew me…"

"Yokai," said Krei, placing a hand on Tadashi's burnt shoulder, the scarred skin barely registering the touch. "He's nothing but another obstacle. And what do we do to obstacles?"

Tadashi didn't answer. He looked back to the ground. Krei's eyes flicked to the camera in the corner once more, and he gave it a quick nod. He patted Tadashi's deformed skin, not afraid to look at him, even in his state. This was all he was, a tender vulnerable thing. And he would be shaped back to his will.

Behind him, the door opened again, and two men in white coats entered. They passed Krei and went to Tadashi. They took him by his armpits and pulled him back into the chair. He let them. He stared blankly at the wall behind Krei as the men in white coats strapped down his arms and legs.

Alistair stood and placed the folding chair back against the wall and walked to the door, stopping in the frame. He turned back. "Yokai," he said, "you've got a big assignment coming up. Your head needs to be in it." Then, to the men in the white coats: "Wipe him."

The door clanged shut behind Krei as one of the men in white placed a rubber mouth guard between Tadashi's teeth and the other secured the electrical nodes at his temples. As Alistair walked away from the room, the door almost muffled the sound of the electricity surging through the boy's body inside. His prize-winning grin remained intact.

His assistant was waiting for him in the hallway, and walked with him to the elevator. He selected the top floor, and his assistant stood patiently next to him, at full attention.

"Do you have the mask?" he asked once the doors had closed, the manicured smile dropping from his face.

"It's in your office, sir," replied his assistant, her tone even and calm.

"I want the control protocols deconstructed, re-constructed, and updated." He turned to her. "If he begins to remember, everything we've got is over."

"Yes, sir," said his assistant.

"I mean, it's that _damn_ brother of his," said Krei, pounding his fist into his hand. "He triggered something inside of Yokai." The doors of the elevator opened, and Alistair stepped out into his penthouse office, smoothing down his suit jacket as he did. He tugged at his cufflinks, making sure he was in perfect shape.

"Do you see this view?" he asked. He stretched out his arms, gesturing to the cityscape that stretched out in front of him. The city was lit up at night, the streetlights and neon advertisements man-made stars and nebulas. He turned to his assistant. "What's missing from it?" he asked. "Do you know?"

"No, sir," said the assistant, hands clasped professionally behind her back.

"I'll tell you what's missing," said Alistair, turning and walking toward the glass. "Me." He paused. "My name should _cover_ this city. Imagine—Krei Tech in every facet of everyday life." San Fransokyo spread out in front of him. "This is why the recovery of my technology, and the new campus, are so important," he continued. "We start with the new campus, and soon, we expand to ten more. Soon, Krei Tech will be synonymous with progress." He turned from the window, the city lights casting shadows across his face.

"And I'll be there," he said, "controlling it all."


	4. Chapter 4

"I don't know if I like going to school like everything's normal," said Wasabi, piloting his tiny rental car, the one Fred had set him up with after his own had crashed into the bay, through traffic at a reasonable pace. "I mean, things are kind of shaken up."

"I would've thought you'd have been all over this plan," said GoGo. "I mean, getting back to the normal order of things might fall right into your realm of coping mechanisms."

"I just mean, I think that it's weird that we're just going back to school like our best friend isn't being brainwashed into doing—whatever it is that he's doing."

"I think we just need to not bust our cover," said Honey Lemon from the backseat. "I mean, Hiro is looking for Tadashi. There's nothing more that we can do without knowing where he is, and this way we aren't just hovering over Hiro in his garage. We're actually working on things that could help us."

"Yeah," agreed GoGo, popping her gum bubble and leaning forward in her seat. "I mean, I don't know about you two, but I'm not going to be paying attention to classes or whatever. I've got one thing on my mind: getting my stuff better so that _when_ we face Tadashi, I'll be ready."

"Ready for what?" asked Wasabi.

"I don't know," said GoGo. She rolled her eyes. "That's why I have to be prepared."

The car fell into silence after that, the only sounds coming from the traffic around them. Even that seemed to have slowed down to little more than a murmur. GoGo glanced out the window aimlessly, and she turned back to Wasabi.

"Does something bother you about the traffic today?"

"Besides the fact that it's slower than even _I_ like to drive, no," said Wasabi.

"How about the mysterious black sedans boxing us in, and the armored van behind us?" GoGo suggested, and Wasabi and Honey Lemon looked out at the cars surrounding them. It was true that they didn't look like the normal morning traffic.

"Maybe we got caught in the middle of a convoy..." Honey Lemon trailed off, because it wasn't a convoy. They were being blocked in.

"What—?" There was a loud _clang_ as something landed, hard, on the roof of the small car. Wasabi and Honey Lemon let out small squeaks of fear, and Wasabi almost swerved out of his lane before catching the wheel and straightening the car out. There was _something_ on the roof of the car, however, and the three of them tilted their eyes upward.

Suddenly, an arm shot down through the windshield, grabbing ahold of the steering wheel and yanking it clear from the car. It took Wasabi a moment to realize that it wasn't just any arm, but an arm made entirely of microbots. The microbots rearranged themselves and formed a steeply pointing drill-shape, pointed directly at Wasabi.

"Eek!" he shouted, and a giant pointed lance of microbots shot straight toward him. Wasabi shut his eyes tightly against the thing, and braced himself for it. The microbots did not reach him, though, and when he opened his eyes, he saw GoGo pulling back her leg from where she had kicked straight through the microbot drill. The bots themselves were already re-forming back into a solid shape above the car, which continued to race forward, Wasabi's foot pressing hard on the gas pedal.

"Hit the brakes!" shouted GoGo, but Wasabi was too terrified to do anything but scream. She rolled her eyes and grabbed ahold of the e-brake, and pulled up hard. The rear of the tiny car whipped around as the car rapidly slowed, and Yokai was thrown from the roof, just barely catching himself in a cradle of microbots before he skidded across the pavement ahead of the car. The black cars that were surrounding it pulled to a stop around the car as well, and GoGo had just enough time to push her two friends' heads down before men dressed in all black stepped out of the cars and began to shoot at the car.

"This is not a very good commute route," said Honey Lemon, holding her head down between her knees. She looked up to GoGo. "How are we going to get out of here?

"Wait," said Wasabi. He reached behind his seat, flinching every time a bullet struck the car. The windows perforated, and then shattered inward, and he rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a small stylus.

"What is that?" asked Honey Lemon.

"Something I've been working on," said Wasabi. He carefully moved back to he was facing forward, and waited a moment. There was a brief pause, as the four gunmen reloaded their guns. Wasabi took a deep breath, and popped up from his crouch, aiming the tip of the pen at the gunman out of his side of the car. A solid, precise beam of red light projected from the tip, making a bead directly on the man's gun. Wasabi held it for just a moment, and a hole burned right through the gun, causing it to discharge into the man's foot. The laser continued to burn to the man's skin, and he gasped. He took a step backward reactively and found himself flipping over the concrete barrier on the side of the overpass, dropping down to the hard pavement below.

"That was… really cool," said GoGo.

"Yeah," said Honey Lemon. "But they're…" She was cut off as the shooting began again, and Wasabi was forced to duck back down. His hands were shaking, holding the small pen.

"That's a neat gadget," said GoGo. "Do you have anything else?"

"No," said Wasabi.

"Give it to me, then," said GoGo, and she took it from his shaking hands. She glanced out over the edge of the car, and ducked back down immediately before she could be hit by any of the bullets flying by. She pulled the gum out of her mouth and placed it carefully in the middle of the car door next to her. She then carefully aligned the laser with the piece of gum and pressed the small button on the side of it. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, but then the gum briefly sizzled, and the laser burned straight through the gum, the door it was stuck on, and the gun held by the man outside of her door. GoGo peeked her head to the window very briefly, and was able to see that she had also burnt through the man's leg somewhat, and he had collapsed to the ground. She released the button.

"Two down," she said.

"But what about Tadashi?" asked Honey Lemon, glancing through the broken windshield quickly. There was a sea of microbots stewing ahead of them, and Yokai stood in the center, controlling their actions with his mind.

"We've only got a matter of seconds before he attacks," said Wasabi. It wasn't just his hands that were shaking now.

"Give me the pen," said Honey Lemon, as she rummaged through her own purse. "I've been working on something, too." GoGo handed it over.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she said. Honey Lemon winked at her.

Outside of the car, Yokai held up a fist, indicating to the two shooters who were still firing on the car that they should stop. The car itself looked like it had gotten design tips from a golf ball, divots from the bullets all around it. Yokai glided forward on the microbots, pulling them up and around the car, surrounding it so that there was no way of escape for the people inside. With a swipe of a mass of microbots, Yokai removed the roof of the small car, and looked down into it to find nothing but a smoking hole that went not only through the bottom of the car, but through the bridge that supported it, as well. Peering through, Yokai could see a yellowish blob of some sort of substance directly below it.

Yokai let out a cry of anger, and the sea of microbots picked up the car and flung it off of the side of the overpass, letting it crash down below. He started to the edge to follow it, and after his prey, but he stopped when the sound of approaching sirens came to his good ear. He jerked his head around and could see in the distance the flash of police lights. A voice echoed in his head, Krei's voice: "Don't get caught—you're not ready for the limelight _quite_ yet." Krei was in charge. He had to do what Krei said. And Krei didn't want him to be found by the police. He motioned to the two standing shooters to get back into their cars. He himself went to the shooter who was still on the bridge, clutching his leg.

"Y-Yokai!" the man said. His hands were wrapped around an already cauterized wound that ran about halfway through his leg. He gritted his teeth. "Help me—"

His plea was cut off as Yokai sent a spike of microbots through his chest. The microbots receded and formed back into the sea. Yokai cast one last glance back in the way of the approaching sirens, and disappeared in the opposite direction.

Two blocks away, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and GoGo caught their breath. GoGo peeked around the corner of the building against which they were leaning, and reported back to the others. "He ran when he saw the police coming," she said.

"He's getting bolder," said Wasabi, whose breaths were coming in jaggedly.

"We aren't going to the lab quite yet," said Honey Lemon. "We've got to get to Hiro first. We need to save Tadashi."

"Unfortunately," said GoGo, "he doesn't seem much like the kind of guy you can save." She glanced back over her shoulder, and then faced the other two. "He's the kind of guy you _stop._"


	5. Chapter 5

Fred wandered into the lab, alone. He did that quite often, actually. His student ID got him into the building—any student could get in, during normal operating hours, at least. He had his corner of the lab, usually with a few back-copies of _Ultimate X-Men_ he hadn't read in a while to keep him company until everyone else showed up. Today didn't seem to be much different. When he switched on the light, the only thing waiting for him was his mascot costume, slumped against the wall.

Fred dropped down into his chair and reached over to his stack of comics. He froze, hand on the top issue of the stack, when something caught his eye. The door to Callaghan's office, which was usually closed against the ruckus of the lab, was slightly ajar. Fred brought his hand back and stood up slowly. He looked around the lab and saw that there was no one else around. There was no reason for Callaghan's door to be open, which made Freed curious as to why it was. He crept toward it, and slowly pressed his palm against it, opening the door inward.

The office looked much as it had before Callaghan had died, minus a few potted plants that had been removed by the custodial crew. Not much else had moved, as far as Freed could tell, but he had only been in the office once before. It had been over a year ago, maybe more—

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_You know, I see you hanging around a lot," said Callaghan, pointing to Fred with the butt of his pen. Fred shifted slightly uncomfortably in the seat._

_ "__Yeah," he said. "I'm pretty, y'know, interested in science and stuff. It's cool to see those guys in action and all."_

_ "__I know what you mean," said Callaghan, a twinkle in his eye. He paused for a moment, his thoughts hovering on something else, but then he refocused and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. "You're interested, but you never join in, do you?"_

_Fred sat up. "Professor Callaghan, I don't mean to, like, get in the way of their work, or anything—uh…"_

_ "__No, no, you misunderstand," said Callaghan, slightly chuckling. "I don't mean to kick you _out_ of the lab. I want to invite you _in_."_

_Fred didn't reply at first—he just stared at Callaghan, his mouth slightly agape. "Uh, dude—Professor, there has to be some sort of a mistake…"_

_ "__None at all," said Callaghan. "Your grades could use some improvement, sure, but they have been on an upward trend since you've begun hanging around her a few semesters ago. I don't see why you can't continue that upward trend while actually getting hands-on with the experiments your peers are conducting. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if you were leading your own research by the end of the year."_

_They sat in silence for a moment, making an eye contact that Fred had a hard time breaking. Then, he was finally able to speak, looking down. "Look, man—Professor Callaghan—I appreciate the offer, really, but I'm not smart like these guys are. I'm more—just me. And that's cool. I'd much rather just kind of help from the background." He shrugged. "It's just not my thing." He stood, and walked to the door. "Thanks, though."_

_ "__Fred," said Callaghan, catching him before he left the room completely. "Just—consider the offer open for whenever, in case you do feel like you want to take me up on it." Fred turned away, and left the room._

* * *

><p>That was the last time Fred had been inside of Callaghan's office. And truthfully, it was the last full conversation he had had with Callaghan. He had never felt unwelcome in the lab, but Fred couldn't help but feel like he'd let him down—and he wasn't the only person Fred was worried about disappointing.<p>

There was a slight ticking now, something that Fred hadn't noticed from the outside. It was very faint, but it was rhythmic, and certainly coming from somewhere in the room. Fred took a step forward, still not sure how the respectful way to investigate—or intrude into—a dead man's office was. _Of course_, thought Fred, _he might not really be dead_. It was his own theory, after all, that Callaghan was behind this all. Maybe, just maybe, the office door was open because Callaghan had stopped by. That would prove that he was alive, and therefore behind _everything_.

Fred went around to the back of the desk, no longer held back by any ideas of politeness. If he had a chance to figure this all out, it would be worth disrespecting the villain's office, because he wasn't really dead. If he _was_ really dead, that was too bad, but he had to stick with the theory until it was proven wrong.

Now that he was behind the desk, Fred realized that the ticking itself was coming from within the desk itself. He scanned the top of it, and found nothing but a keyboard and computer monitor, as well as a cup with a few pens. To the side of the monitor was a picture of a young woman in a smart-looking suit with a vague resemblance to Professor Callaghan. Fred's eyes caught on it for a moment before opening the top drawer in the desk.

The drawer held a few bundles of wires and a few legal pads. The source of the ticking, however, was a small object near the back of the drawer, knocking into the side of the drawer repeatedly, rhythmically. Fred reached in and pulled it out, holding it between his forefinger and thumb. It was a microbot just like the kind Tadashi as using to be a bad guy. Fred shoved the thing in his pocket and shut the drawer. He could feel a slight tickle in his pocket as the thing tried to go in the same direction it had been trying to go in when it was in the drawer, just a weak tug directed toward its brothers.

He left the room, shutting the office door behind him. He couldn't prove that Callaghan had been there, but someone with access to microbots had snuck into his office, which was some pretty strong circumstantial evidence. He sunk down into his chair once again and pulled out his phone. He dialed up Honey Lemon, and after a few rings, she answered with video.

"Fred!" she exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Yokai attacked us," said GoGo, over Honey Lemon's shoulder. She ducked back down right after, and Fred realized that they were walking.

"What happened?" asked Fred. "And why aren't you guys in Wasabi's rental car?"

"Because some guys shot it up after Yokai _attacked_ us," said Wasabi from somewhere out of the cell phone's frame.

"Fred," said Honey Lemon, "we're on our way to the Lucky Cat Café to find Hiro. Can you meet us there?"

"Yeah, sure," said Fred. "And dudes, I found something, too."

"Fred," said Honey Lemon, her face grave. "Be careful. Tadashi knows who we are, and knows we know who he is. And he wants us gone."

"Then I'm on my way already," said Fred, jumping out of his chair and to his feet. Honey Lemon gave a small smile, and ended the call. Fred slipped his phone into the pocket not holding the microbot and dashed out of the building, leaving the lab and Callaghan's empty office behind.


End file.
